An unexamined idea, to paraphrase Socrates, is not worth having and a society whose ideas are never explored for possible error may eventually find i…

- Mark Van Doren

Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I rec…

- Mark Van Doren

Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.

- Mark Van Doren

There are two statements about human beings that are true: that all human beings are alike, and that all are different. On those two facts all human …

- Mark Van Doren

The art of reading is the art of adopting the pace the author has set. Some books are fast and some are slow, but no book can be understood if it is …

- Mark Van Doren

To fail to love is not to exist at all.

- Mark Van Doren

Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.

- Mark Van Doren

There is one thing we can do, and the happiest of people are those who do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present.

- Mark Van Doren

Wisdom before experience is only words; wisdom after experience is of no avail.

- Mark Van Doren